Maven Style: Star Wars, Rodarte & Sochi

A new hope! The sisters strike back! Return of the Mulleavy's! Okay, you get it. The theme is clearly Star Wars, the franchise launched in the late 70's by George Lucas, which gave us a trilogy of films set in a fictional galaxy. Orphaned royalty, golden droids, space travel, Yoda's predicate-before-subject phrasing, desert moons, spaceship chases through asteroids, alien monsters, lasers and light sabers, and the reluctant hero. And then there's Han Solo who owes a large alien slug some money but can't pay up so he gets frozen in carbonite. Finally, Luke's estranged dad's boss, The Emperor, tries to kill him with some finger lightning when he won't give in to his feelings but Luke's dad saves the day. Darth Vader does love Luke! They enjoy a short, heartfelt reunion and then Darth Vader dies as a redeemed Anakin Skywalker. To this day, the films continue to be a pop culture phenomenon and a part of many an adult's childhood.[gallery type="rectangular" ids="1904,1907"] This is the case for Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the offbeat and super talented design duo behind Rodarte (pronounced Row-dart-ey). For their fall/winter collection at New York Fashion Week, their inspiration was childhood memories. They canvased the shared pensieve of their childhoods and created looks based on the ethereal nostalgia created by their childlike imagination. How you remember something as a child shapes how you perceive things as adults and their desire was to step back into that hazy outlined world to remember fairy tales, boxy librarian-chic looks, and Star Wars.

Star Wars certainly brings plenty of fashion inspiration. The red-cloaked Emperor's Royal Guard, Princess Leia's golden bikini and honey bun hairstyle, Storm Trooper's white on white, Obi-Wan-Kenobi's capes, Darth Vadar's noir leather and fabric draping, and Princess Amidala's gowns and makeup. Combined with the gorgeous landscapes and John Williams' emotive scoring, Star Wars is a visual feast. In my childhood, Star Wars was one of those trilogies that everyone in the family could get behind and we enthusiastically watched it together with popcorn and hopes for the alliance. At my brother's commencement from Columbia University, all he wanted to do afterward was eat lunch and go see the anticipated prequel, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. No matter the dashed expectations of the movie itself, the nostalgia that the Star Wars movies and its subsequent prequels kicked up brought us back to a time where we were all living in one apartment, times were simpler, and furry bears could help robots and the alliance win a forest battle.